ONBC: Mr. Burrough, I'm curious as to the extent of redaction in the FBI files you had access to, how it might have hindered or prolonged the research for the book, and how you worked around any problems missing names might have caused. How long did your research take?

Bryan Burrough: Research took almost five years. I actually bought all the FBI files, over a million pages in all, and stored them in my garage. The redactions weren’t that big. Mostly they just cut out the names of the innocent. But even that was hit and miss. They’d redact a person’s name 29 times then forget to do it once, so voila, you’d have the name.

You can't judge a book by its cover.

The only thing that matters is the ending. It's the most important part of the story.

It makes sense to me that you bought the files. I am sure you had to access them so many times that it made life much easier, especially over a five year period. It was the great source material that made the book special to me, because I like to feel the story is as accurate as possible. It is what makes your story so much more interesting than all the previous attempts. Then you were the only one daring enough to cover them all at once and had to get the timeline right. In my mind I can see flow charts with dates for each Public Enemy laying all over your work place.

"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." Will Rogers

The attention to detail in the book shows your dedication to all of their stories. I also appreciated the maps and "family trees" at the beginning. Those were very helpful. I hope I never have to be "redacted"!

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming -
Wow! What a ride!

I'm trying to imagine the size of the garage that would be needed to house over a million pages....including the space needed to be able to access all those pages. I agree with Lucky13, it is indeed mind-boggling.

But not as mind-boggling as knowing that Mr. Burrough read all those pages and pieced together all the parts into a coherent story. Impressive.

theresa wrote:I'm trying to imagine the size of the garage that would be needed to house over a million pages....including the space needed to be able to access all those pages. I agree with Lucky13, it is indeed mind-boggling.

But not as mind-boggling as knowing that Mr. Burrough read all those pages and pieced together all the parts into a coherent story. Impressive.

I can't even imagine. That's like the equivalent of 2500 normal sized novels.

You can't judge a book by its cover.

The only thing that matters is the ending. It's the most important part of the story.

Whoa! That's a lot of paper! I have nothing but admiration for anyone who has the self-discipline and focus to tackle such an unwieldy project. And to make it all make sense in the end is pretty amazing in my book. I think it speaks to Mr. Burrough's devotion to the subject as well as to the captivating nature of the individuals he was researching.
Good job!

So how did BB approach this task, I wonder? A mind-map for each character, or some sort of chronological chart with notesattached, or some colour coded thing? Or spatially, on a map of the locations? I can't imagine how he could keep tabs on all that detail and then reduce it to the book it became.

Work hard, learn well, and make peace with the fact that you'll never be as cool as Johnny Depp. GQ.

Endora said:
So how did BB approach this task, I wonder? A mind-map for each character, or some sort of chronological chart with notesattached, or some colour coded thing? Or spatially, on a map of the locations? I can't imagine how he could keep tabs on all that detail and then reduce it to the book it became.

That's the first thing that popped into my mind, also. I can't keep up with 5 filing cabinets, much less a million pages -- plus all of the other resources and research.

I'm also looking forward to it. I simply can't imagine what a million pages even looks like, let alone how to sort them. We've had alot of indications already about Mr Burrough's attention to detail, and of course here is another. And then there is:

Mostly they just cut out the names of the innocent. But even that was hit and miss. They’d redact a person’s name 29 times then forget to do it once, so voila, you’d have the name.

I was all ready to snort derisively at yet more FBI errors, but statistically, on a scale of that magntitude there would have to be some. And Mr Burrough sifted through till he found them.

"Luck... inspiration... both only really happen to you when you empty your heart of ambition, purpose, and plan; when you give yourself, completely, to the golden, fate-filled moment."